


The Divine Zero

by nucodiangelo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith Plays the Piano, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Spanish Lance (Voltron), and lance is so fucking in love with him, just lots of angst and pining im sorry, just lots of pining, stupid teen boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 11:10:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10555320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nucodiangelo/pseuds/nucodiangelo
Summary: In which Keith can play the piano and it FUCKS UP Lance's life





	1. Moonlight Sonata

**Author's Note:**

> Love is stupid and painful, and Keith hates it. He hates feeling this way, weak and pathetic. And for Lance of all people.

****

**Keith ******

********

****

Keith doesn’t know why Lance _hates _him so much. Not that he had debated it when Lance declared and demanded that they were rivals. He doesn’t care, so he didn’t fight it. He’s sure the other boy has a good reason to hate him, and sometimes, late at night, Keith will catch himself feeling guilty for whatever he had done to make the blue paladin hate him so passionately. He knows it has something to do with their time in the same class at the Garrison, but Keith can barely remember the time between Shiro going missing and then finding him again. He could lie and say that he barely remembers Lance from school, but he won’t. He remembers tan skin in beautiful contrast with the orange space suit, bright, excited blue eyes and a loud persona. He doesn’t remember what he did to piss him off, but most of the time, he doesn’t care either.__

____

 

**Lance ******

********

Lance feels his body groan and ache, and in the back of his mind, he feels Blue purr, trying to calm him. He’s been working out on the training deck for _hours _with Shiro and Hunk, working on their shooting. Lance is an excellent shot. _That _is what he’s good at. Not much else, but he’s glad his one talent is something that keeps his friends and him alive. That being said, Shiro kept _pushing _. Every time he or Hunk got confident he would up the level, and Lance is _tired _.________

_____ _

____

Therefore, after the others has gone to bed, he starts making his way towards the showers. The castle is huge, with hidden rooms and hallways, and if it hadn’t been for his perfect sense of direction, Lance would get so lost, he would probably grow old in a secret hallway on the second floor. He heads towards a shower room he found last month while exploring the castle. A shower room with a huge bathtub that Lance could live in, if he had the time to do such. As he walks, he listens to the groaning and creaking of the ship, machinery working loudly inside the walls. He’s almost by the shower room, when he hears a familiar sound. Soft and sharp noises mixing perfectly, so faint, Lance has to stop his breathing to hear it properly. Creeping towards the sound, he follows an unfamiliar route towards a part of the ship he has yet to explore. The sound gets louder and louder with each step of Lance’s bare feet against the metal floor, and his heart fills with a warmth that spreads across his body. _Music _. He finally find the room where the music is coming from, leaning against the doorway to take it in. It’s a huge room, with a tall bowed roof and no windows. The room is cluttered with a bunch of weird looking devices, which Lance only can imagine as Altean musical instruments. In the center of the room, his eyes find a familiar instrument, a black and sleek piano. And on the stool, with his head  
hung and eyes closed, sits Keith. __

____

____

Lance doesn’t know what to do for a while, because the music feels so private, so intense, he almost turns and flees the scene. Then he recognize the song, and he feels himself gasp. The notes of the piano are dark and rough, but at the same time light and soft, with sharp edges and a painful sound. Suddenly he sees himself in the living room at his home back on earth, five years old again and watching his mother sew. She’s bright and wonderful, and Lance thinks she is the most beautiful woman ever. The warm and safe place of Lance’s childhood home is filled with a beautiful ballad being played from a pair of speakers. She smiles down at him, with so much love in her eyes, Lance feels a lump in his throat and he wants to cry. He wants reach out and touch her, feel her warmth against his skin and listen to her soft voice. _Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven _. “This song describes everything beautiful in this world without using words, _mi hijo _, remember that” Then he’s back in the dark room, watching Keith play a song that holds so many memories and emotions for Lance, and before he knows it, he’s crying. Big fat tears roll down his cheeks as he stares, mesmerized, at the black haired boy. He feels so pathetic,  
but the music is so beautiful, he can’t help it. ____

_____ _

_____ _

Keith’s eyes are closed in concentration, pale fingers slipping over the keys so effortlessly. His shoulders are relaxed, and there’s a calm on his face, in which Lance has never seen on the boy, and he seems content and happy. He doesn’t look like the Keith he is during the day – tense and stern, never smiling, always scowling or furrowing his brows – and Lance fins himself liking this Keith. This Keith is vulnerable and soft, spilling his feeling over the piano keys and out into the space of the room, and Lance almost feels like an intruder. When the song ends, praises and words of adoration are on the tip of Lance’s tongue, but he knows the Red paladin’s guard will be back up the second he sees Lance, so he keeps them to himself. Lance watches Keith get up from the stool, and panic washes over him as he realizes the other boy is about to leave. As the coward he is, he turns on his heel and sprints down the hall as silently as he masters, running back to the barracks with his tail between his legs. Away from Keith. Away from confrontation. And defiantly away from the warm and painful feeling in his chest. 

 

**Keith ******

********

********

Waking up in the morning has never been a problem for Keith. He doesn’t need much sleep and hasn’t ever had a hard time getting out of bed when he needs to, but now his mind is buzzing and eyelids heavy. He has been sleepier since he discovered the music room, spending so many late nights there, but he is also more relaxed, less hotheaded. He groans at the sound of Coran’s voice calling his name through the door, announcing breakfast. He gets up and gets dressed, only because he has to, but the warmth of his bunk almost draws him back in a few times before he finally gets the strength to leave the room.  
The first thing he notices when he enters the dining room, is the way Lance is looking at him. An unreadable emotion plastered on the brunettes face as he stares at Keith, and he won’t look away, even when Keith stares right back. Lance’s eyes are bright and wide; the skin around them a little darker than normally, indicating he, too, hadn’t gotten much sleep.

“Keith!” Hunk lets out, joyfully, and Keith gives him a strained smile, “Hey, buddy!”

Keith will probably never admit it, but a burst of happiness fills his chest every time the yellow paladin calls him that. Hunk is the only one, besides Shiro and maybe Coran, who never seemed faced by Keith’s unwelcoming facade. It’s nice, being someone’s ‘buddy’. 

He sits down next to Hunk, grateful for the other boy’s friendly personality, and starts eating the green goo on the plate in front of him, as the rest of the team goes back to talking about what they had been doing before Keith entered the room. Pidge and Coran are passionately discussing the repairs of the ship, as Hunk listens, but doesn’t contribute to the conversation much due to the food he keeps shoving into his mouth. Lance seems tense, tired, and filled with an emotion Keith can’t quite place. He seems almost uncomfortable, a blush across his tan skin as he grips his spoon so hard his knuckles have turned white with aggravation.

“Keith” Allura’s calm voice brings him back to reality and he turns his attention away from the blue paladin and towards the princess, who eyes him with a strange look on her face, “Your hair is getting quite long”

Keith runs a hand through his hair, almost in reflex, and he realizes his hair has gotten much longer since they left earth almost a year ago. It reaches his collarbones in soft waves in the back, but the front is still shorter and messy, falling into his eyes. It’s even more of a mullet now than it’s ever been, and he finds himself stealing a glance of Lance before he can stop himself. 

“If you want to, Coran could cut it for you!” She nods her head towards the older Altean, whom nods excitedly. 

“It’s been a while, ten thousand years, since I last cut someone’s hair, but it would be an honor!” Coran fucking bows, and Keith hears Pidge snicker from the other side of the table.

“Maybe, Coran… thanks. I think I’ll keep it long a little while, I’m getting quite fond of it”

“If you like it, then I like it too” The princess smiles, the first warm and genuine smile (in a non-near-death situation) he has gotten from her since he discovered he was half Galra, and it makes Keith blush slightly. 

Lance chokes on a piece of food goo a few seats over from him, and when Keith looks over, the other boy is fuming. Keith _knows _that Lance likes Allura. _Of __course _, he likes Allura. With her soft moonshine colored hair, tan and radiant skin, and peculiar eyes of a sapphire and chalcedony mix. Keith knows that the princess is beautiful, beyond words, but he can’t make himself think like that.______

_____ _

_____ _

Keith never understood romantic attraction. He remembers elementary school, when girls would nag him about who his crush was, but Keith never had a crush. Every feeling he has ever had towards another human (which lets be real, it’s rare he even has any), were platonic or familial. The only two people Keith has ever truly loved is his dad and Shiro. So no, Keith never understood romantic attraction. Not until the first day at the Garrison, when his eyes met a pair of wide blue ones.  
It annoys him that Lance, out of all people in the universe, was the first one to ever catch Keith’s attention. And somehow, without knowing it, he had completely screwed it up, and now his first love _hates _him.__

____

____

“You should cut it… It makes you look even more pathetic than before!” Lance says, voice shaking slightly.

 

**Lance ******

********

********

Allura is flirting with Keith. Keith isn’t necessarily flirting back, but he’s blushing. Allura is flirting and Keith is blushing, and blood pumps in Lance’s ears. A painful cold feeling wraps around his heart, and he sees the edges of his vision go blurry. He isn’t quite sure which one of them he is angry at. Maybe both. 

“You should cut it… It makes you look even more pathetic than before!” He says it before he can think, words spilling out of his mouth in a desperate attempt to change the mood that Allura and Keith had set around the table. Desperate to end the painful sad throb in his chest, and his eyes go wide as he watches hurt flash over Keith’s face. 

It doesn’t look bad. Not even close to it. Keith’s mane of hair frames his face in a way long hair never did for Lance. It curls around his pale face in soft locks, making his sharp features and pretty eyes stand out. Lance has to keep himself from gasping every time he sees Keith now. Because it’s a shock how beautiful he is. Lance always thought the red paladin was breathtaking, ever since he had first seen him at the Garrison, all pale and glorious. However, Keith has grown since then. His muscles are more prominent, after countless hours on the training deck, and he has this healthy glow around him that Lance knows is from having people around him that care about him, and will save him before he cracks. Lance remembers how tired and ruined Keith had looked that night they saved Shiro from the shipwreck. Now, he looks well fed and strong, _invincible _. He may have been beautiful before, but now he is absolutely gorgeous, and it makes Lance’s knees buckle and his breath hitch.__

____

____

Hunk gives him a disapproving look, and Keith’s expression is back to a hard, cold stare.

“I mean…” He chokes out, feeling trapped and stupid, and rude, “Isn’t it bothersome when you wear your helmet?” He tries to save his sorry ass, but the once calm mood in the room is gone, and Shiro is staring at him with the same disappointing stare that his father used to use when Lance over spoke. 

Keith lets out a dry laugh, “I’ll deal. Thanks…” he says, his voice closed off and cold and Lance wants to cry because the boy he had seen last night, bare and pure, was completely gone. Lance had chased him away, leaving an angry shell of a boy. 

Lance hangs his head, brain throbbing, heart pounding, and tries to ignore the sad looks from the other people around the table. The rest of the team are used to Keith and Lance’s bickering, always trying to one-up each other, but Lance was just straight out mean to the red paladin, and the others probably feels a strong surge of protectiveness. Keith is staring down into his plate, one hand playing with a strand of hair with a thoughtful look on his face. Lance doesn’t even know why he said what he said. It must be because he felt jealous of Keith, for getting that kind of attention from Allura. Right? He pushes any other option to the back of his mind, and tries to ignore how hurt and beautiful Keith looks. 

 

**Keith ******

********

********

The training deck becomes Keith’s savior for the rest of the day. Anger and hurt rips through his body the second Lance’s words leave his lips, and through the lion bond, he feels Red roar angrily. He excuses himself shortly after, ignoring Shiro’s pleading look and almost runs to the training deck. His muscles burn painfully, flame flowing through his veins and spreading across his body. Red’s anger fills him until he overflows, letting out a pained scream as he hack loose at the training bots. He doesn’t keep count of the levels he works past, feeling blinded by emotions and the need to let them out before he explodes. 

He remembers his time alone in the desert, in the shack. The year without Shiro. All alone. He had been empty, angry, so alone. He wouldn’t deal with _this _, the sinking feeling in his chest, very well. Now, whenever he feels this way, he’ll let himself loose on the training deck, hacking with his bayard sword until he feels hollow inside. Hollow is better than  
overflowing. __

____

____

Pain spreads from his arms to his chest and his lungs burn as he heaves for breaths, but continues to push himself, further and further. Until he feels drained and empty.

“You’ll pass out if you keep going like that…” a voice rips Keith back to reality, and the bot disappears, revealing a smiling Lance. “Please stop,” He adds gently, and Keith retrieves his bayard. Lance is standing in the entryway, shadows casting contours on his tan skin. Keith’s heart beats so hard it hurts, and he’s a little scared he’ll actually faint. 

“How long have you been standing there?” He asks, out of breath. 

Lance shrugs, “Long enough to be able to tell that you’re in pain… Man, you need to set limits for yourself” Keith laughs dryly, “I mean… one of these days you are going to work yourself to death against a level ten bot, and none of us want that…”

Lance has that same look on his face. The one he had when Keith entered the dining room for breakfast that morning, and it makes Keith’s toes tingle slightly. 

“I’m fine, Lance.” Annoyance drips of his words, and the other boy narrows his eyebrows slightly. “Shouldn’t you be off not doing any work somewhere?”

The smile that creeps onto Lance’s face is full of amusement, and he lets out a dark chuckle, “Yeah, probably” He smiles warmly at Keith, and Keith feels like punching him in the face for making his heart feel like it is about to leap out of his chest. 

Love is stupid and painful, and Keith hates it. He hates feeling this way, weak and pathetic. And for Lance of all people. 

“I wanted to apologize though, for being a dick earlier” Lance scratches the back of his neck, stares at the floor in front of his feet, eyes narrow and lips pursed. He looks like a child, small and embarrassed, and it makes some of Keith’s anger fade away to the back of his mind, where it buzzes comfortably. 

“I actually think your hair looks great, and I really really don’t think you’re pathetic, you know that right?” Then a familiar smirk find his face, and his eyes meet Keith’s, “Don’t cut the mullet, dude… It’s the sign of our relationship!” He flails his arms around him.

Keith laughs, a soft chuckle, and it makes Lance’s face light up, “Yeah… Alright” Keith says, and with a last smile, he pushes past Lance and leaves him on the training deck.


	2. A Time For Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith wants to punch him in the neck for the way he pronounces his name. Like a fucking purr, so soft and seductive and Keith finds himself sweating all of a sudden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the tags bc I decided to use gender-neutral pronouns for Pidge! Also, this chapter is a little shorter, but its honestly more of a filler! Still hope you enjoy it xx  
> Lance's family is based off a few other stories I've read, and the picture of them from s1e2

**Lance**

The second time Lance catches Keith’s piano playing is a few days later. The day’s mission left him tired and sad. They had rescued a family of aliens off a burning planet. And even though Lance was happy they’d gotten to save them, seeing that familial love really wretched his heart. He can’t stop thinking about his big sisters, Angie and Maria, his older brother, Tony, and his little brothers and little sister, David, Mario and Leah. Maria's two children Alex and Rosie, Lance's baby niece and nephew. He thinks about the fact that Angie had been pregnant when he left for the Garrison, and that his niece or nephew must have been born by now. Lance is missing out on so much, and there’s a nagging voice in the back of his head that tells him they’ve all lost hope that he’ll ever return to them. Right when they came back from the mission, he locks himself in his room until dinner, gripping his pillow harsh against his face as soft sobs leave him. Lance _knows_ that what he does is important, that he's 'the galaxy's only hope', but knowing his family is out there, going on with their lives without him, makes his heart feel like a hollow shell. 

Therefore, when he sees Keith sneak off towards the music room, he can’t help but follow suit, needing the comfort of the soft music. He keeps his distance as they walk down the hall. Keith doesn’t notice him. His body is stiff, tenses and his hands keep clutching and unclutching at his sides. Lance wonders what’s on the other boy’s mind. 

Lance stays hidden on the other side of the entrance to the room; leaning around the entryway to watch Keith sit down, crack his fingers a few times before he starts clinking random keys, trying to figure out what to play. Lance suddenly feels ridiculous. What is he doing here? The first time was reasonable. It had been an accident, and Lance had been to intrigued to walk away. But this? Following him to listen to him play? Lance feels creepy and weird, and he is just about to turn and leave when Keith starts playing. Really playing. Tonight’s song is heavier, sadder, and it fills Lance’s chest with dread. He doesn't recognize it. Not that he is much of a classical music person, but he does have his knowledge. The notes are smooth and low, and they make Lance feel like crying. He doesn't. He had sworn to himself that last time was the last time he cried while creeping on Keith play. Well, to be fair, he had also sworn that last time was the last time he would creep on Keith play. So if he cries, it won’t be the only promise he’s broken tonight.

Keith’s eyes are closed again, but unlike last time, his shoulders stay tense. He stays stiff and almost uncomfortable throughout the whole song, and Lance feels the urge to walk over and fucking rub his shoulders or something. Lance is so lost in thought he doesn’t notice the song ending and Keith turning his attention towards him.  
“Lance!” He stands up, knocking the stool over behind him, eyes wide and voice cracking slightly. His cheeks have heated up to a dark pink, and his eyes are absolutely _wild_. Lance debates turning on his heel and running off, but figures it will be just as embarrassing, maybe even worse, having to explain things later. He gives Keith the stupidest wave in intergalactic history. 

“Hi, uhm… Sorry” His voice comes out hoarse, out-of-breath, and for a second he wonders why he feels so damn nervous. It’s only Keith, and if things go bad he can always start making fun of him with light banter. But Keith looks so damn vulnerable that he doesn’t, for once. “I’m sorry for just… you know… Watching… I guess”

Keith just stares at him open mouthed, as if he finds Lance the most peculiar human ever, and his brows furrow in confusion, even though embarrassment is still evident on his face.

“I just walked by, and heard the music… So I just stayed here, listening” He lies. Well, it isn’t exactly a lie. It’s what had happened the first time, just not tonight.  
Keith’s face is unreadable. There’s not much light in the music room, so Keith’s normally pale face looks grey in the dim light, and there’s shadow cast over his face, making him look almost sinister.

“You’re really good” Lance musters out. He feels pathetic. _Jesus_ , what can he say to make this situation less embarrassing for them both?  
Then an emotion washes over Keith’s face. His gaze sinks towards the floor in front of him in a cold stare, as the sides of his mouth turn downwards and his brows furrow. He looks like someone who’s had their safe place intruded. And Lance realizes that, _shit_ , he has.

“Again I’m sorry… I’m just gonna go now!” 

 

**Keith**

The words leave Keith’s mouth before he can even register what he is even thinking, and shocks even himself, “No, stay!”

Lance turns back around with a confused look on his face. Brows furrowed and lips pouting, looking like he is trying to figure out what Keith is thinking. Keith is trying to figure that out himself. 

Letting out a forced cough, be bends down and picks up the stool he had knocked down in surprise when he had noticed Lance standing in the entryway, looking so damn in awe. Sitting down again, he turns his attention back to the other boy, who is still standing there in the small opening looking lost. 

“I mean…” Scratching the back of his neck, he doesn’t really know what to say. Why had he asked Lance to stay? “You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.” It sounds so damn stupid Keith winces. Lance lifts his eyebrows in question, biting his lower lip in a way that makes Keith want to jump him. Keith's been having a lot of those thoughts lately, and they aren't exactly good for his concentration. 

Lance walks over, all of a sudden, and plop down next to Keith on the small stool, and the closeness of their shoulders makes Keith’s breath hitch. He can feel the heat radiating off Lance’s body. He can smell the faint smell of his shampoo. He can even feel the lion bond, Red and Blue connecting at their closeness. It feels like a pull, low in his gut, and Keith has to fight the urge to move in the last few centimeters so their shoulders can touch. Lance smells of flowers and sunshine, like everything a beach boy like him should smell like, and Keith is so gone.

“What was that song you were playing?” Lance suddenly asks, and Keith has to fixate his eyes anywhere but the boy next to him to hide the dark blush across his cheeks and nose. 

“A time for us by Nino Rota” 

“It’s sad” 

Keith glances over at that. Lance is looking down on the piano keys with furrowed brows, his hand playing with the hem of his shirt. He looks like a small child, looking at something new and shiny, and the whole scene makes Keith’s stomach bubble uncomfortably. 

“I guess”

“When and where did you learn to play? And do you only know classical songs?” He looks up at Keith, big blue eyes meeting deep purple ones, and Keith feels like making a run for it. Keith isn’t used to being asked about his past. Isn’t used to people even caring about it. Shiro’s the only one, in the universe, that really knows the real Keith. The one that doesn’t put on a brave face and push people away to hide what he really feels inside. 

“When I was younger… I went through some stuff and I guess learning piano was a coping mechanism” He wants to explain further, wants to open up and just spill it all. All the hurt and loss and rejection but sadness clogs his throat, and he can’t help but feel like Lance didn’t ask for what he wanted to answer. 

“That’s good.” Lance says, his voice softer than a whisper, and it sends chills down Keith’s spine, “Well not that you went through stuff, but that you coped in a healthy way!”

Keith wants to laugh. He feels the bubble of hysteric laughter rise in his throat, because _hah_ if only he’d coped in a healthy way. Keith coped in so many ways but healthy. Always had, probably always will. But Lance doesn’t know that, doesn’t need to know that so Keith shuts up and nods his head. 

“I won’t have you nagging me in the morning for being this nice to you, but I’ll have to tell you again… You’re really talented, Keith” Keith wants to punch him in the neck for the way he pronounces his name. Like a fucking purr, so soft and seductive and Keith finds himself sweating all of a sudden. His breath hitches, and his gaze snaps away from Lance’s sparkling blue eyes. _Jesus_.

“T-thanks” He stutters.

They sit in silence for a little while, both staring intensely down into the piano keys, and Keith feels so damn frustrated. He wants to speak more to Lance. He wants to make this moment last longer, because he knows for a fact that in the morning this will all be forgotten and Lance will go back to his annoying self and Keith will go back to his comfortable pining. Words bubble in his stomach, making their way up his throat in huge waves, but something blocks them and he’s left with nothingness. With a last sigh, and a soft _‘goodnight Keith, don’t stay up too late’_ Lance gets up and leaves. Keith is filled with coldness and emptiness all over again, and suddenly the piano doesn’t do it for him anymore. 

 

**Lance**

They’re having a crisis. Coran calls them into the control room so early in the morning, Lance feels like he was ran over by a Welblum in his sleep. They are missing something, some part, that is crucial to the firing of the castle’s weapons. Lance isn’t really listening, just slumping in his chair and counting stars. All he really catches is a distressed Allura, and Coran waddling around the room chanting ‘if Lotor attacks us now, we’re defenseless!’. Shrio tries to calm them down, with his dad-voice, and Hunk and Pidge are already trying to construct what they’re missing out of scrap metal pieces they've gathered throughout the past week on their missions to random planets. 

“The only place I can imagine that still sells it is a space mall not too many galaxies away from our current location!” Coran says, rubbing long fingers over his mustache, eyes squinted. "The last time I was there, well I adopted three children and was arrested for arson!"

"How-?" Pidge starts, but Allura interrupts them with a loud groan.

"We don't have time for another one of your lovely stories, Coran!"

Keith is just standing behind Allura, arms crossed over his chest in that ridiculous stance he always does, leaning against the control panel. He hasn’t met Lance’s eyes this morning, and frustration itches in Lance’s chest. Keith looks exhausted. Beyond exhausted. His face is paler than usual, almost translucent, and there’s deep bags under his eyes. If Lance wasn’t so smitten, he might have poked fun at it. 

“Well, then we’ll have to send some of us out to get it!” Shiro’s stern voice brings Lance back to what’s at hand; Not Keith. “I would go, but Allura and I have lots of planning to do, and Coran, you’ll have to get started on fixing the castle’s other defenses after that last battle”

Pidge’s eyes light up, bouncing up and down on their heels and letting out a tiny screech that Lance recognize as excitement, “I have some new idea’s I want to test out on the castle, so I’ll help out Coran!”

The older altean ruffle’s their hair playfully, looking down at them with pride shining in his eyes. Then he points a finger at Hunk, “I’ll need you too!”

Suddenly everyone turns their attention towards Lance, and he quickly realizes why. Shiro looks almost guilty, as if he's genuinly sorry it had to come to this, but the others, Hunk, Pidge, Allura and Coran, just look like they're having the time of their lives. 

“No! Nope! And in Spanish: No!” He babbles, gripping the sides of his chair and staring back at Shiro, hoping his stare is just as intimidating as the black paladin’s. It isn’t. Lance has to look away after a few seconds, “Ugh, okay!”

He gets out of his chair, cracking his back and groaning loudly. Then he signals for Keith to follow him, and even though his heart is beating painfully hard against his ribcase, he gets out a, “C’mon Mullet, ¡vámonos!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaah guys I cannot believe the love I recieved on the first chapter, thank you so so so much!!! I'm honestly shocked, and I feel so happy it means so much to me. Like I always have so _much_ to say and I feel alot and have so much stuff ging on in my head at all times so when I finally get things out on paper and people enjoy it I'm the happiest girl alive!!! Thank you!
> 
> Please leave ur thoughts in the comments, and likes are _always_ appreciated!


	3. Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are plummeting towards the ground below them, and there is nothing Keith can do to stop it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not sure how i feel about this chapter, so let me know what you think! i might draw out how the aliens look tomorrow and upload it to my tumblr ;)

**Keith**

Something is wrong. He senses it as soon as they leave the hangar of the ship. They take Red (much to Lance’s annoyance. The boy has been whining for the past hour of flying.) and there’s something wrong. Keith doesn’t want to speak his mind, because that would mean accepting defeat. That would mean that Lance would win. And Keith can’t have that. Still, panic clogs his throat as he tried to reach out to the lion bond, but something in Red seems closed off. She’s flying nicely, nothing noticeable to anyone who can’t _feel_ how Red is doing. Keith feels it. Deep in his gut there’s a gripping feeling, telling him that he needs to park her before it all goes to quiznack. 

“I can’t believe you were at the top of our class,” Lance mumbles for about the tenth time since they left the castle, and Keith, despite the hollow feeling in his stomach, feels his eyes roll to the back of his skull in annoyance. “You aren’t even that talented! You just act on instinct! How could a teacher just ignore that you never follow instructions or rules!”  
Keith goes back to ignoring him, pulling at the lion bond to get some kind of response from Red, but she’s completely shut off. It almost feels like she’s gone mute, and it makes Keith’s entire body feel frozen. 

In front of them, open ground of the strange planet appears in view. If Keith’s sees past the fact that he is in a flying, magic, robotic lion, and the fact that the trees on the planet are blue and the sky green and brown, it almost looks like you’re average mall site on the east coast, back home. Trees boom as tall as skyscrapers, and below, Keith can see small roads were alien cars are driving in all direction, and the mall, a huge white building, takes up miles and miles of space. 

“My little sister would kill to go to a mall like this…” Lance whispers, and Keith realizes that he’s leaned over his shoulder, breath fanning against his neck, making hairs stand up and a blush erupt over Keith’s nose. 

Then it happens. Keith feels it seconds before, the lion bond closing completely and suddenly they are falling from the sky.

Keith tries everything, pulling at levers and pushing buttons, talking to Red and banging his fists against the dashboard. Lance just screams, holding on to Keith’s shoulder so harshly it’s definitely going to bruise, and Keith wants to slap him away. 

“Keith what the fuck????” Lance screams, and Keith feels the urge to eject the blue paladin out of the cockpit, but realizing quickly that would be hard when his his lion is non-responsive. It’s almost like she’s sleeping. 

They are plummeting towards the ground below them, and there is nothing Keith can do to stop it. 

 

They hit the ground with such an impact, all Keith can hear for a few minutes is a ringing in his ears, and his head feels like it had been ripped of his body. He has fallen out of his pilot chair and is sprawled on the floor in front of it, and he’s pretty sure he took a bad hit to the head on the dashboard. When his hearing finally comes back, he can hear the loud Spanish cursing behind him. 

“ _Mierda, mierda, mierda! Pendejo, culo, verga!_ ” Lance’s voice is high pitched and squeaky, and Keith’s quickly realizes that the blue paladin is in pain. “ _Mierda_ , Keith… Fuck”

Keith sits up from his awkward position, eyes scanning the cockpit for Lance. He’s sitting on his knees, slightly hidden behind the pilot’s chair, holding his head in his with a sour expression on his face. Eyes squeezed shut, brows furrowed together in pain and mouth in a thin line. Keith sees blood, and he’s not really sure what to do. 

Crawling over, he pops down next to Lance, offering a concerned look, “Are you okay?” 

Lance opens his eyes to look at Keith like he’s crazy, “You ruined my face!” His voice is so high pitched, Keith has to stop himself from laughing. “Your lion is trying to kill us, man…”

Keith’s eyebrows furrows as he thinks about it, and suddenly he feels really stupid for not just turning around as soon as he felt like something was off about Red. “I don’t think she’s doing anything, Lance…” The other boy raises a finger as if to protest, but Keith cuts him off, “It’s like she’s… turned off…”

That catches Lance’s attention, and he drops his hand from the bleeding cut on his forehead to frown at Keith. Keith feels a sudden urge to lean in and _kiss it better_ , but that would be incredibly stupid and dumb, so he doesn’t. 

“Turned off? Is that even possible?”

Keith shrugs, turning his face away from Lance’s gaze to hide how absolutely terrified he is for his lion. “I think we should contact the castle… Maybe Allura knows what’s going on.”

Their call is responded almost immediately, and Pidge’s face is squished against the screen in the corner of their helmets, grinning from ear to her. They have soot on their face and behind them, Keith can hear loud banging noises. 

“Hiya, boys!” They’re practically screaming, and Keith makes a mental note to ask someone about a volume-button-upgrade in their helmets. “What can I help you with?”

Lance looks at Keith with a questioning look, “Is Allura nearby?” He asks, his voice a little strained as he’s holding the cut on his forehead again. There is enough blood to drip down his hands, and Keith wonders if they maybe should try to find something to sew it with, or at least bandage it.

Pidge looks a little hurt, muttering something under hear breath before leaving view for a few seconds, returning with a annoyed looking Allura. 

“What?”

“We kind off…” Keith starts, but Lance has other plans for how to explain the situation.

“Plummeted to the ground and crashed on an alien planet and I almost died! Look at my head! Look!” 

Keith tries to count how many times a day he feels the sudden urge to slap Lance senseless. Biting his lip, he rolls his eyes, hoping Allura catches it.

“Yeah… That.”

Allura’s eyebrows raise in shock, her small mouth frowns and she looks like she isn’t really sure what to say or ask next.

“What happened?”

Keith dreads his answer, having to admit that this is all his fault, but he has to just suck it up and get it over with. He takes a last look at Lance, bloody and brilliant in the strange light of the strange planet. He has a funny look on his face as he stares back at Keith, pain and pleasure mixing on his features, making Keith want to run his knuckles over Lance’s sharp jaw. Closing his eyes, he turns his head away from the boy next to him and focuses on his breathing.

“Red felt off the second we started flying, but I just assumed it was nothing… Which was stupid, because when we were minutes away from landing she just…” He pauses, furrowing his brows, ignoring Lance’s puzzled look next to him, “Stopped working, or something… It felt like she just passed out… fainted.”

Allura’s shoulder slouch a little as she lets out a soft chuckle, “Your lion is just tired. Her quintessence is drained… She’s probably worn out after yesterday’s mission! She just needs to recharge!”

Keith’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks at Lance to see if the other boy looks as confused as he feels. He does. Lance’s brows are almost at his hairline, worry lines around his frowning mouth. 

“How do we recharge her?” Keith asks.

“You don’t do it, she recharges herself with rest… So you won’t be able to use her for a few vargas… I would say about a quintent, just to be sure, then she should be good to go!”

“A QUINTENT?” Lance’s voice is so loud in Keith’s ear, he yelps and shoves Lance forcefully away from him. 

“Like I said, just to be sure you won’t crash land on another planet on the way back to the castle.”

 

When the call ends, neither of the two boys say a word for a few minutes. All that’s heard in the cockpit of the red lion is the faint sound of traffic in the distance. Keith feels sweaty, and his paladin armor fits a little too tight all of a sudden. Lance is breathing too loud, and Red is being too quite.

“What did I say?” Lance suddenly breaks the silence, and Keith snaps his head to the side to find slightly amused blue eyes.

“What?”

“You follow no rules! What did you think was going to happen?” His voice is high pitched and a little annoyed, “Oh, my lion’s feeling a little weird, but I’m such a good pilot that it won’t matter?”

Keith groans and rolls his head back against the headrest behind him, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to ignore the way his armor feels heavy and painful against his chest. 

“Shut up, Lance.” 

Lance does shut up. Keith hears him let out a loud sigh, before walking off. 

“Where are you going? Red’s not responding, so she cannot let us out.” Keith opens his eyes and stand up to follow the blue paladin. Lance chuckles from somewhere inside Red, but it sounds more annoyed than amused.

“You mean to tell me that you don’t know about the hatch in the back of the lions heads?” Lance is climbing a short latter towards a square in the roof, right where Red’s neck would be, and Keith feels incredibly stupid. 

He scratches the back of his neck, ignoring Lance’s ass right in his face as he watches him open a hatch in the roof, “I haven’t really explored that much.”

Lance turns around and looks down at him, “We’ve been in space for like… what? A year? What have you been doing with your spare time? And don’t say training because I will scream.” He smirks a little, but Keith pretends to not see. 

“Shut up, Lance.”

He climbs after the blue paladin when he disappears out the hatch, and they come out on the back of Red’s head. Lance is squinting against the light from the strange planet, and it takes Keith’s eyes a few seconds to adjust.

 

**Lance.**

Blue trees stretch out as far as the eye can see and the evening sky (or what Lance assumes is evening, space time is weird) has turned a pukey green color, a bright orange sun settling in the distance. There’s no mountains, ocean or lakes as far as Lance can see. The entire planet appears as one big forest. It’s awfully quite, no animal or alien can be heard except for the soft hum of motors far away. 

“So…” Keith mumbles. He’s leaned against Red’s head, arms crossed and mouth in a pout. Lance remembers complaining to Hunk about that stance. The Keith stance. He does it whenever he’s annoyed or anxious or tired, and it’s the hottest thing ever in Lance’s opinion. 

“I have-“ 

Suddenly a loud noise breaks the silence. Like a loud siren, coming from every direction. 

“What is that?” Keith’s voice is alarmed.

Lance feels his heart beat against his ribs, and his hand immediately goes for his bayard by his side. His gun appears, and he’s a little sad to admit how much safer he feels to have it in his hands. He’s come to feel so familiar with the comfort of his weapon over the past year. He tries to allure himself to believe that the reason is that it’s become like a stress ball, and not because he knows he can eliminate any danger. The latter just seems too violent, and makes Lance feel bad about himself. 

It almost comforts him when he sees that Keith has retrieved his bayard too, standing next to him with his sword raised and a determined look on his face. 

A bunch of car-like-things appear from the trees, coming to a stop a few meters away from the red lion. Lance feels Keith tense next to him, and he almost wants to grab his hand in comfort. He doesn’t. 

The humanoid looking aliens that exit from the cars have bright colored skin and three sets of eyes. That’s the first thing Lance notices. The second is how rediciolousy tall they all are. The Galra nation look like children compared to these aliens, which makes Keith and Lance babies. When Lance gets a better look at them, he realizes that none of them looks like they’re either men or women, just tall and bright and full of eyes. None of the aliens are wearing any armor of any sort, just the same dark red uniforms and weird gun-like-weapons at their sides.

“Trespassers, please state your name and intentions.” A bright green alien with yellow eyes steps forward, all six eyes narrowing at the paladins on top of the lion. Their voice is robotic like and deep, a metallic churn to their tone that makes cold go down Lance’s neck. 

For a moment, Lance didn’t know what to say. Had none of these aliens heard about Voltron by now? It seemed a little weird considering it had been around for ten thousand years, and had been back for about a year now, saving planets and fighting the Galra empire. 

“We’re paladins of Voltron,” Keith said next to him, reminding him that they were supposed to answer the alien, “We only come for… shopping.” Lance hears the cringe in Keith’s voice. Lance puts away his bayard, realizing that these guys are harmless, and holds up his hands to show them he means no harm. 

“Is there something wrong with your ship?” Another alien, a dim pink shade, asks, and Lance smiles. 

“Our girl here is a little tired, sorry for the disturbance.” He says, smiling brighter, and he swears the pink alien blushes a little, “Would it be okay if we let her stay right here to rest while we go do our business?”

The bright green alien narrows it’s eyes again, “And that is?”

“We’re getting some supplies for our… other ship. It’s in orbit around your planet right now, waiting for us!”

The aliens share a quick glance at each other, then seem to physically stand down, nodding at the paladins. 

“Okay then, paladins of Voltron, let us escort you.”

With a last look at Keith’s unsure face, brows furrowed and hand gripped tightly around his blade, and Red’s limp body, Lance jumps down to the ground.

“Great!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also, if anyone wants to draw me fanart that would be fucking fantastic!!!! doesn't matter the skill, it would make me the happiest girl ever! if you do, tag me on tumblr (nudodiangelo)
> 
> thanks for reading xxx

**Author's Note:**

> please let me know what you think!!! thanks for reading xxx


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